Maryland Accident Lawyer Blog

In Carr v. Cinnamon, a California appellate court applied the same rule we have here in Maryland: the finder of fact can award whatever they want for noneconomic damages, including zero even when it seems preposterous that a person could suffer medical bills and have no pain and suffering.

Plaintiff's premises liability lawsuit alleged that her leg fell through the floor of a patio on defendant's property. The jury found the defendant partially responsible and awarded a whopping $6,207.08 with no damages for pain and suffering. Improbably, Plaintiff's attorney appealed, arguing that the damages award was inadequate as a matter of law and the trial court should have awarded damages (additur) or awarded a new trial.

The appellate court disagreed, finding juries can essentially do whatever they want. One thing is for sure: this jury was not a big fan of this plaintiff.

You can find the opinion here.

We've all been through it before...trying to locate either the defendant or the "friend of a friend" who was with our client at the time of the accident. When this person appears to be absolutely nowhere, it is worth checking out whether this defendant or witness is a guest of the state of Maryland.

Thankfully, people in jail are relatively easy to find. All but 8 state departments of corrections - including Maryland - makes available to the general public, information and photographs of inmates who are incarcerated. While originally created in the interest of public safety, it has become a tool in which witnesses have been located. There is no charge for these inmate locators, and new states are being added as they become available. You can chose the state you want to search and it will take you directly to their inmate locator. Some states will show pictures, release date, crimes, etc. while others will only list their age with no photo.

You have located your incarcerated witness, now what? If your defendant is in jail, you have an easy means of obtaining service of your Complaint. If you are trying to find a witness to the accident you can arrange a meeting and can videotape the inmate's trial testimony by videotape. This can usually be set up by contacting their caseworker, though every detention center is different. In most cases, you will need the warden's permission, as this process will bring in a lot of outsiders (all counsel, court reporter, videographer, etc.).

Clearly, there are some hoops to jump through to dealing with a defendant or witness that is jail in Maryland. While it may cause an accident lawyer a few headaches, finding and gathering testimony from inmates has and can be done.

The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a $10 million verdict awarded to a truck driver who slipped and fell on grease while making a delivery to Walmart, resulting in a back injury requiring multiple spinal surgeries.

The Colorado Supreme Court reversed a lower court's determination that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was entitled to a new trial. The female truck driver incurred approximately
$500,000 in medical bills, and was unable to return to work after the fall. As such, her truck, in which she also lived, was repossessed.

The award, originally $15 million, was reduced by $5 million due to the state's cap on noneconomic damages, making this one of the highest judgments ever in a slip-and-fall case.

Throughout the day, our law frim might access a hundred websites. The internet has become an absolute necessity to the daily workings of a law office that is hitting on all cylendars. Here are just a few useful links to push the ball forward on Maryland accident cases:

• Zip Codes - Have an address with no zip code? No problem, enter your address here and you are provided with the zip code you need.
• County Look Up - Don't know what county your accident happened in? Once again, no problem, enter the zip and you are provided with the County.
• Online Video Search Site - This site searches over 100 video sites on the Internet. You can find a video of almost any surgical procedure imaginable on this site.
• National Freedom of Information Coalition - Offers resources if you are doing a FOIA request, as well as gives you samples.
• Resident Agent Information - With this link, you have access to every state's website for obtaining corporation resident agent information.
• Doctor Search - This is an excellent physician locator service, with links to most states. It also gives you licensing information as well as whether they have had any disciplinary action against them.

A wrongful death suit has been filed in Utah, stemming from a horrific boating accident.

The facts here are rather unbelievable. The suit contends that the driver of a boat negligently struck the decedent while she was swimming, causing critical injuries, as the propeller "tore" into her torso and lower abdomen. It gets worse from here. According to witnesses, after striking the swimmer, the boat turned around and the boat's occupants were overheard calling to the woman. They were heard yelling, "Hey lady, are you all right?" The witnesses said that the defendants talked to the decedent, but did not offer aide and left the scene, leaving her in the water bleeding and severely injured.

In addition to five John Does, three men were named in the suit, claiming that the men failed their "duty" to use "reasonable care" to avoid an accident. The suit further claims that the power boat was operated in a negligent and reckless manner. The driver and at least one other occupant had smoked marijuana prior to the accident, and at least three of the occupants had been drinking alcohol.

The lawsuit goes on to state that the Defendants' acts and omissions "were the result of willful and malicious conduct or conduct that manifests a knowing and reckless indifference toward, and a disregard of the rights of others." I’m not quite sure if being “under the influence” had anything to do with their choice to leave the scene without rendering assistance, but one could only hope that was not the case. I can’t imagine that an individual, let alone eight, could leave a woman struggling for her life, while they tore off hoping not to have been noticed – something rather difficult to do in a speed boat.

No criminal charges have been filed against the three men yet, as investigators were waiting for the results of forensic testing.

Last week, the Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog looked at the number of civil tort lawsuit filed in 2010 throughout Maryland. Here, we look at the number of motor tort lawsuits filed in Maryland in 2010, sorted by county:

Baltimore City: 1,463

Prince George's: 1,096

Baltimore: 966

Montgomery: 531

Continue reading " How Many Accident Lawsuits are Filed in Maryland? " »

Does more traffic in Maryland mean less serious car accidents and deaths?

I have never thought about the correlation between severity of injury in car accidents and the amount of congestion on the highway. But it certainly makes sense that (1) traffic jams lead to more accidents because the traffic is stop-and-go, and (2) high traffic means low speeds which means less serious accidents.

A new study bears this out. Washington, D.C., which includes Maryland for the study, has the worst congestion in the United States. But the cost of car accidents is low in comparison to the rest of the nation. Some car accident lawyers like to pretend that there is no correlation between impact and severity of injury because people do get seriously hurt and killed in accidents with little property damage. But common sense tells us that serious accidents are likely to lead to more serious injuries and more deaths.

The overall national cost of accidents - which includes the fender benders, the medevacs, the lawsuits, and the lives lost, was estimated at a whopping $300 billion a year. Statistics like this tend to be a little dry but $300 billion is an amazing amount of money.

Continue reading " Maryland/DC Traffic Means Less Serious Car Accidents " »

Tracking Down Car Accident Defendants

Before filing a lawsuit in Maryland, or anywhere for that matter, you need to be able to find and serve the defendant. Usually, this is a breeze. But in a painful minority of cases, it can take real effort. Tracking down and locating defendants can get costly. In this economy, people are moving more quickly and leave less tracks when they move. Certainly, the most complete option is to hire a private investigator. Before jumping into that money pit, one effective weapon we use is Accurint which provides access to over 34 billion current public records that you can utilize to find your man or woman.

What is your next step….a Whitepages search? Perhaps the Maryland Department of Assessment and Taxation? Well, that will tell you if your Defendant sold his property, if he OWNED the property, but not where he went. Maybe a Maryland Judiciary Case Search? Let’s be serious, not everyone can be found….you may have a fresh defendant that has never been sued, and has never broken the law. And let’s not just pick on the Defendants. I have certainly had clients whose mail is returned as “moved – left no forwarding address”, that’s always appreciated, right?

In my office, Accurint gets used on a daily basis, probably hourly. Accurint provides information that allows users to quickly and easily extract valuable knowledge from huge amounts of data. You can access thousands of data sources, from phone directories to property records to motor vehicle registrations.

As with anything, the more information you have, the better. But, simply having the first and last name will get you started. A name like Robert Smith is clearly more of a challenge (which is where extra information comes in handy). For a relatively small fee ($2 to $11) per search fee, you have access to Accurint’s database of twenty-two years of address history. Accurint can instantly find people, as well as their relatives, associates, and even their assets.

Accurint requires a promise to use this information for appropriate uses. So don't use it to track down your high school sweetheart or to get that number your got and lost from the club. But for Maryland accident lawyers trying to track down defendants, it is one of our first lines of attack.

A California jury has awarded a $1.1 million verdict to a man who sued his landlord after a slip and fall.

Plaintiff fell down the stairs at his apartment on January 1, 2010, and later developed disk injury and symptoms of lumbar strain. A houseman for a wealthy San Francisco family, Plaintiff was forced to quit his job because of the pain. Torres sued the property owner alleging that he failed to keep the stairs clear of slippery algae, and did not install a handrail, as required by local code.

The owner or his insurance company let the case to trial. Bad choice. A jury awarded Torres $1,070,801 for economic losses, including $850,000 for future lost earnings.

Plaintiff's slip and fall attorney said, "If the defendant had provided the minimum protection of a building code-required handrail, at a cost of less than $100 and an hour of time, this lawsuit would have never been necessary...." This really makes you step back and think. As a retired general contractor, Fleming could have installed the handrail himself. What made him think it was worth the risk NOT to install the handrail?

Continue reading " Man is Awarded a $1.1 Million Verdict For a Fall Down the Stairs " »